Kitagawa’s hydraulic Eco Cylinder slashes power consumption
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Kitagawa is offering companies that are developing and building lathes with a spindle speed of up to 5,600 rpm the option of fitting its Eco Cylinder. The hydraulically actuated, rotary chuck cylinder typically consumes 1.5 kilowatt-hours over a daily shift, compared with 36 kilowatt-hours for a conventional cylinder, claims Kitagawa. The company calculates that the nearly 96% reduction in power equates to a saving of more than 19 kg of carbon dioxide.
The Kitagawa open-centre Eco Cylinder achieves its efficiency advantage by allowing the electrically driven pump to cut the hydraulic oil supply once the chuck is clamped. Holding pressure is maintained using an internal locking mechanism that is only released during the chuck unclamp process. This is in contrast to conventional cylinders, which deliver the hydraulic supply constantly to maintain holding force.
Another feature of the Kitagawa Eco Cylinder design is that less heat is generated in the rotating elements so thermal distortion of the lathe spindle is optimised. A further consequence is that oil temperature is reduced. Early figures released from Kitagawa Japan indicate that in a normal workshop environment, a maximum temperature of less than 47ºC is reached by Eco Cylinder, compared with a norm of 80ºC.
Moreover, the rise to maximum temperature takes typically twice as long, around four hours, giving more thermal stability during warm-up so that component accuracy and repeatability can be maintained.
The specification of Eco Cylinder is designed to match the 8-inch BB series chuck and includes 278 mm outside diameter, 160 mm length, 66 mm diameter through-hole, 20 mm piston stroke, 50.5/48.3 kN drawbar push/pull and 3.5 MPa maximum operating pressure.
